Think i'm going de-dion.

So, are drums lighter than disks? If i'm going to the hassle of converting the chassis i might as well make the most of it.

Anyone with any views, hard evidence or general advice as to which is lightest and which is best?

Going to be fittnig 13" capri alloys

You will have trouble fitting sierra rear discs under 13" capri wheels...apparently

David

i think a while back someone did a breakdown of the weight of the sierra drums and disks and the difference was minimal maybe a search will dig something up...

Tom

I would imagine the drum weighs as much as a calliper and disc.

But the disc (or atleast 4x4) drive shafts are a lot heavier.

So it probably works out around the same.

For a future car I would look at combining the bits to get the best/lightest option.. along with some alloy callipers!

HTH,
James

someone weight like for like components and found that drums were almost 0.5kg lighter for the pair.

sierra rear discs will fit under 13" rims but sierra handbrake calipers will foul most wheels. The handbrake arm can be tweeked to fit some 13" rims, or you could fit a different caliper. I believe that several companies make billet alloy calipers that have been adapted for a handbrake cable. they have a side exit arm. One of the kit car magazines did an article on them.

Go for the lighter diff with push-in shafts and convert the rear drums to disks. This will give you a fairly light setup if that's what your aim is.

whats the lighter diff?

I'm hopefully about to win a complete rear end with drums. If fitting disks under a 13" is a problem then i'll stick with drums and pretend they are lighter.



(done a search and found no matches)

I'm interested in this too - who sells the necessary bits of metal to convert push in driveshafts to disks or can you mix and match the relevant parts from the different types of Sierra back end?

If you're not going sierra track then you'll need different shafts anyway (and I think you are going narrow track aren't you Mike?)

In that case get lightweight shafts made (by you know who!), lighten the CV's (I'll do them for you Mike) and I can't see the disc setup being any heavier, especially if you use alloy VW calipers which are as cheap/cheaper than fordy ones anyway.

I hate drums!! They are fine in terms of brake performance but just horrid in terms of engineering, horrid yucky things full of crappy bodge springs, silly sliding bits, crappy retainers, silly self-adjusters that go wrong and all manner of other things that I would not let anywhere near my car!!

Sorry, rant over!!

Apart from brake fade the big problem with drums is both the drum and the brake shoes act like springs under when pressed really hard.


However for road use 9" Sierra drums are more than up to the job and will give a really good handbrake.

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
Apart from brake fade the big problem with drums is both the drum and the brake shoes act like springs under when pressed really hard.

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quote:

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Originally posted by MikeRJ

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
Apart from brake fade the big problem with drums is both the drum and the brake shoes act like springs under when pressed really hard.

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As do many calipers!

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bugger - outbid on ebay ..... grrrrr.....

realistic price for complete rear end anyone ?

Given what i know now, i would use a drum brake rear end cos the shafts, joints and hub carriers are all lighter, bin the drums and convert to discs using lightweight ally calipers.
13" wheels can present quite a challenge with discs, as iv'e found out the hard (expensive) way. VW calipers will not fit under some 13" wheels. This is my final solution, using bike discs and pug 206 calipers. seems to work ok, but is not an easy bolt on solution by any means.



Description



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[Edited on 4/5/06 by Wadders]

Not easy bolt on, but bloody nicely done mate, detail work like that makes all the difference!!

Hi Wadders - looks like a tricky installation! Are the discs floaty (like on the bike) or bolted on? Did you turn an inward flange on the bells for the fixings?
I did a slightly more conventional version but that involved turning up(down?)standard discs rather than using bike gear...
cheers
Bob

Hi Bob
yes disks are bolted solid, and as you say, located by a rebate turned on the back of the bells. The Pug calipers float by design, so the discs should be ok mounted solid.
Rattling floaters would have driven me nuts anyhow!
Cheers Nat, appreciate the kind words .
Al.



Originally posted by Bob C
Hi Wadders - looks like a tricky installation! Are the discs floaty (like on the bike) or bolted on? Did you turn an inward flange on the bells for the fixings?
I did a slightly more conventional version but that involved turning up(down?)standard discs rather than using bike gear...
cheers
Bob

got my sierra back end (thanks for all the help paul - really appreciated) and when the weather dries up i'll weigh the escort axle, the capri axle and the sierra stuff to give you a final, conclusive comparison.

All will be weighed with fluids etc and i'll try and figure out the amount of force needed to lift a side of the axle for when it hits a bump.

Hi, Mike think we had the best of the weather. Hope you find it all usefull.

I hope you wont enter me for the untidy garage competition as I would have an unfair advantage

all the best, see you around somewhere.

Paul

Aaah, but you're excluded on the grounds that yours isn't a garage but a Garage!



Anyway, it wasn't that untidy, you knew where everything was.

Really sold on using the air gun after using yours now. Just had mine fired up to remove prop shaft bolts on the capri axle.

Here is the thread in question thanks to LSDWeb

Rgds

Rich